China's Maritime Security Strategy: The Evolution of a Growing Sea Power

Description

This book examines the evolution of China’s maritime security strategy, and questions what has made China shift from a constrained to a more assertive strategy. Historically, China has not been an active player in maritime security, but in recent years Beijing has begun to pursue policies and measures to safeguard its maritime rights and interests in the Indo-Pacific region. This growing influence in the region has become a concern for other countries about what kind of sea power China is developing. This book seeks to address this concern by providing an overview of the development of China’s maritime security strategy from the era of Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping. It suggests that while the involvement of maritime actors and the development of naval capability have provided the depth to the strategy, the national strategic guidelines from each generation of Chinese leadership have determined the overall direction of the maritime security strategy. After 40 years of development, China has established a set of priorities for its maritime agenda: territorial integrity is at the top, followed by development, and then regional and international maritime cooperation. These findings help us to understand China’s multidimensional maritime power as being both assertive and cooperative. This book will be of much interest to students of naval strategy, maritime security, Chinese politics and International Relations. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page Contents Acknowledgment Preface List of figures List of tables List of abbreviations and acronyms 1 Introduction: what makes China the sea power today? 2 Understand maritime security strategy in China 3 Deng Xiaoping’s era: a limited maritime security agenda 4 Jiang Zemin’s era: when maritime security became a concern 5 Hu Jintao’s era: the rise of China in the “maritime century” 6 Xi Jinping’s era: constructing a strong maritime power 7 Conclusion: China – the twenty-first century sea power Appendices Appendix A Reported naval exercises (1978–2020) Appendix B Reported joint naval exercises with foreign navies (2003–2020) Appendix C Reported naval missions (2005–2020) Appendix D Reported patrolling missions by domestic law-enforcement agencies (2002–2020) Appendix E Domestic maritime operations/policies (2013–2020) Glossary Index